How did O'Hanlon and Pollack travel to and from Iraq?

Did they fly on regularly scheduled commercial airline flights? If so, who paid? Themselves? The Brookings Institution? The New York Times? The US Military?

Did they fly on commercial airliners chartered/leased by the US? If so, did they or any other organizations reimburse the military for this travel?

Where did O'Hanlon and Pollack stay in Baghdad? Did they stay in a hotel or were they provided with accommodations by the military or the State Department? If they stayed in a hotel, which one did they stay in and who paid?

O'Hanlon makes it clear in his discussion with Greenwald that he had an expectation of security being provided by the US military. Was his security in fact provided exclusively by the US military? Is this a privilege afforded to any visiting journalist? Are there circumstances where people/organizations who have been provided with security in Iraq by the US military are expected to reimburse the federal government? Were there any charges associated with the security for this trip and if there were, who paid?

1. The bullet-wound to Petraeus' chest was accidentally fired by an American soldiers who "tripped" with his rifle during a live-fire exercise.

2. The parachute accident occurred during a civilian (i.e. completely voluntary, non-military) parachute jump wherein the parachute properly deployed but "collapsed at low altitude due to a hook turn, resulting in a hard landing" that broke his pelvis.

This isn't to say that the man isn't a genuine tough-guy - I have no doubt that he is - or that these injuries weren't significant. If O'Hanlon is going to attempt to portray Petraeus as GI Joe then the whole story surrounding the circumstances of his injuries should be presented.

I've decided that I'm no longer going to worry about the crazy people who are running our country in Washington attacking Iran. The question, "You and what army?" comes to mind immediately.

While there is clearly a sustained effort in some parts to get Americans angry about Iranian interference in Iraq and the spectre of their nuclear program, it is far from universal policy out of Washington. Nobody is out there beating the drum every day like all of them were in the run up to our invading Iraq. Furthermore, some of the casus belli they've pulled out of their asses of late have only generated ridicule and not concern. See the recent revelation that better targeting of mortars and rockets fired into Baghdad's Green Zone is indicative of advanced training that could only happen in Iran. HO HO HO

The wheels are FINALLY coming off of the Washington/Texas/Pentagon/Republican/Military-Industrial Complex/Jesus Freak express. Many of the people involved at the top can't tie their own shoes, let alone lead us into a shooting war with a country that will make our problems in Iraq look like the stuff of children.

The men behind the curtain.

Blood, sweat and strawmen.

Atlas Whimpered?

Fred "Aw, Shucks" Thompson

I can't believe that he won in 2006.

Who really likes this guy and why?

The irony of the Republican man-on-the-street's reckless pursuit of "the taxcut" is that the very same policies these people enthusiastically support are often incalculably expensive and will likely eventually break the bank. See the $500 billion Iraq War for one example. ($6 billion for anti-IED research to date alone!)

The electronic surveillance they are so fond of us conducting to protect us from the teeming Arab hordes isn't cheap either.

Nor is hunting down, rounding up and deporting Mexicans.

These costs are perfectly acceptable for the authoritarian conservatives and the fact that eventually we'll all need to make up the deficit their spending has caused with tax revenue doesn't seem to occur to them.

I just listened to an episode of BBC World Service where the incident this past weekend appeared to be the lead story.

The incident itself sounds like it was an episode of wanton and senseless violence. The BBC spoke of a car shot up to the extent that it burst into flames, burning a mother and child to death. Numerous other Iraqis nearby were shot multiple times and hospitalized with multiple bullet wounds. It sounded like the confirmed number of killings was between 8 and 12.

The most disconcerting aspect of the BBC report was that the Iraqis interviewed - people who live/work in and around the intersection where the incident took place - to the person, they referred to the contractors as "The Americans." It was crystal clear that for the Iraqis, there is no differentiation between American troops and Blackwater contractors.

Bad news.

The kid sounds like a jerk and a troublemaker, but TASERS are serious business. I *love* the fact that law enforcement in the 20th century moved towards enlightenment to the extent that they consider carrying weapons capable of subduing someone in a non-lethal fashion. In another time and place the kid might have received a really serious beating at the hands of these cops. I am overjoyed that they didn't work the kid over.

But Tasers aren't a panacea. One of the news clips I saw this week relating to this story indicated that more than 200 Americans have died while in police custody after being "tased." Tasing someone isn't like sending them coffee and flowers. When the cops break out their tasers and prepare to fire, SOME ONE is going to be hurt - and there is always the potential of someone being hurt badly enough that they might die.

The use of force in ANY context should be a last resort and should be conducted within a framework of strict rules and guidelines for safety.